Guest host  Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee

Hi, I’m Ed Kee, Delaware’s Secretary of Agriculture.

This has been a trying and wet summer on Delaware’s farms, but once again our farmers have met every challenge. I’m standing in front of some of the best Delaware corn crop on record – 165 bushels per acre this year. That has implications beyond being good news for grain farmers. Most of our corn and soybeans go right back into the feed for our poultry industry, which is a huge economic engine for our state. Our watermelon crop is also doing wonderfully this season, with juicy Delaware watermelons being enjoyed up and down the East Coast. We grow more than 100 million pounds every year, and that number is only climbing.

Those are just a few of the highlights from our thriving agriculture industry, which creates a staggering economic impact of eight billion dollars and 30,000 jobs. Now, that’s due first and foremost to the hard work and dedication of our farmers. Governor Markell and I remain firmly committed to the partnerships and programs that give them every opportunity to succeed. We support irrigation with a no-interest loan program. We help keep land in farming through our agricultural preservation foundation. We have a young farmers’ initiative that gets young people out working their own land. And we develop new opportunities for our producers to market their great products.

By working together to help our growers and consumers, we will all help keep Delaware moving forward.

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